Electronic alarm monitoring systems are useful in protecting a premises by detecting events prior to an occupant's detection of the event or in an occupant's absence. These systems may incorporate status indicators to communicate the state of the alarm system to a user. These systems are generally kept in an armed or disarmed state, with some variability to the degree of armed state (e.g., different modes, selecting zones, etc.). When a user is not aware of the current state of the system, the user may inadvertently trigger an alarm by activating one of the system's security sensors. This generates a false alarm event which may reduce the quality of the alarm monitoring service, place unnecessary burdens on first responders such as medical, fire and law enforcement officers, and may increase the cost of alarm monitoring to the home owner by generating fines, law suits, or the need for additional hardware to verify that the event is actually an alarm event.
In addition, a state indicator may alert a user to a transition between states or a fault with the system or component(s) of the system. Another possible result when a user is not aware of the current state includes failing to or delaying service for a fault condition. This could result in compromised security or unpredictable results from the system in response to an alarm event.
It is known in the art that providing human-perceptible status indicators may prevent a user from generating an unintended alarm event by alerting the user to the active state of the system (e.g., such as a buzzer sounding when entering a premises to remind the user to disarm the system). In addition, human-perceptible status indicators may notify the user that the system is not armed so that the user may arm the system to take advantage of the security provided by a system in an armed state. Systems may also alert a user to a transition between states. Further, human-perceptible status indicators may notify the user of an error or fault condition affecting the functionality of an alarm monitoring system which requires attention.
Methods of providing a human-perceptible status indication currently known in the art may be limited to displaying the state on a keypad, security panel, or portable user interface, or emitting an audio tone or vibration from one of these devices. These components of an electronic alarm monitoring system are necessary for inputting information, such as activation/deactivation codes, initial programming, linking components of the system to each other, or communicating between the alarm monitoring system and a monitoring center or other system. These components are not often the source for receiving input data that generates a false alarm event, or the most visible components to a user.
Methods for providing a sign of the status of an alarm monitoring system known in the art are not readily apparent to users in proximity to sensors that might trigger an alarm event. These alarm triggering devices may include door contacts, window contacts, motion detectors, or other event receivers that do not display any information about the alarm monitoring system status, serving only as input components for the system. In addition, fault indicators found on alarm system keypads or similar devices may not be noticed for some time as interacting directly with these devices may not be necessary on a frequent basis. Alternatively, they may be designed to generate indications when it is unknown if a user may observe the indication, such as repetitive annunciations from a siren which may impose additional operational costs or disturb pets at a premises while providing no utility as an indication to a system user.